The high price of city pension & retiree benefits; Glassell Park wants to pimp its post office

Mayor Garcetti’s presentation on his proposed budget failed to mention one of the city’s largest and ever-growing expenses: employee pension and retiree healthcare costs. Those costs will total $1.1 billion in the coming fiscal year and amounts to 20% of the funds the city uses to pay for basic services. L.A. Times

Look at the Yelp post on this station. I had numerous problems: I’d track international shipments online, wait at home for delivery and then find the online system updated to show that an attempt was made to deliver the parcel and a notice left at the mail box. This lie was told several times. I had ordered something from Amazon with guaranteed delivery. I waited for that. Same story. Always the same delivery person. The last time it happened (and I had complained online and by phone to the office in charge of complaints on the East Coast. Phones were answered by machine, put on hold, then disconnected. The person I spoke with in HQ said I would receive a call back. Didn’t happen. I finally lost it, printed out copies of online trackings I’d done and went to the office. They ‘found’ my package and wanted to see my notice. I explained I hadn’t received one. Then, or on several other occasions. The man behind me in line was there for the same reason. Tracking showed an attempt to deliver had been made…and he was there, waiting. There was a third person, a woman who had a package ‘lost’ but the PO system showed it was delivered. She was there…and it wasn’t…she couldn’t collect insurance. I’m usually a quiet person, sometimes even shy. But I was angry so I spoke out…LOUDLY and CLEARLY. I demanded to see the copy of the notice that supposedly had been left in my mailbox…the person I was talking to scurried into the back to talk to the manager (who was too busy to come out and speak with any of us) and came back to tell me they would find it shortly. I said I knew very well that no notice had been left and the only thing being done behind that closed door was trying to dummy up a fake notice which a check of notices in that series of notices would show it wasn’t written the day before…so don’t bother. I know the truth and so does the manager. The other people waiting for service were trying not to pay attention but it’s a small area, so they had no choice. For those people, for the people who work there and especially for the manager (who makes more than $80,000 a year (as of 2014) that they should read the Yelp review to know what people really thought about that particular station. I said I had no complaints about the service I received from people at the front desks, and some of the deliverymen but others……well they made the “S” in USPS mean something other than service.

I’ve received all my packages on time since then but now they’re doing something strange with the delivery routes that the carrier has to p ark the truck in one place and walk around the neighborhood in a circle, returning to the truck, to move to another approved location to continue the deliveries. I’ve heard from a neighbor that a supervisor comes out to check that the carriers are doing what they’re told to do. First of all, a LOT of 90065 is in hilly areas so it’s not an easy walk and to have to carry packages and flyers and such is demanding too much of the carriers in my opinion and inefficient as well. Before, you could ‘hear’ the van arriving and anticipate when the carrier would be near. If someone were going to be out of town, in addition to a mail hold (which didn’t always work—the station again) they’d let the carrier know. This new system makes no sense unless they’re trying to get rid of some of the older delivery people for whatever reason and if that’s the case I hope someone starts a class action suit against the USPS.

Another side effect of the new ‘system’: The grocery flyers are supposed to be delivered on the Tuesday before they come into effect. Today is April 26th. The flyers should have been delivered on the 25th. They weren’t. For the past couple months I can remember only one week when they were here on the stated day. If you look at the flyer it states ‘for delivery by or on _____’.

I think I’ll contact the company that sends out the flyers to let them know USPS is NOT doing what they’re supposed to. Because it’s not just the grocery ads, it’s all the flyers that are stuck in with the grocery ads….if people don’t need to look at the grocery ads then they won’t see the other ads…which is bad for the company that sends them out.

Me, I know which markets put their new sales info up online on Tuesday (Sprouts, Superior, Jon’s, Super A, Aldi in Altadena), which will post them on Tuesday late, and which will be available early Wednesday morning (the rest of them). The mail arrives here mid-to-late afternoon. I want to have all my grocery shopping planned before noon on Wednesday. I’m sure there are many others who do as I do so the by-mail-flyers go directly into the recycle bin.

Sometime ago there was an article about the Glassell station being closed and all functions transferred to the station at the intersection of North Figueroa and Colorado (slightly below the 210 fwy). That was a couple years ago, and haven’t heard anything since. I like the front desk people at Glassell (read the Yelp review of the other one!) but it’s so difficult to park there on the best of days where the ‘new’ station has lots of parking places. I thought I had read about the change here (Eastsider) but couldn’t find the article. When it comes to Post Office services I really prefer the small office on North Broadway (Lincoln Heights). I have nothing but praise, appreciation and respect for everyone I’ve dealt with there. I bet they have a great manager who doesn’t play favorites or have an attitude problem most of the time.

So paint this place? If they’re going to paint it, the mural should contain some of the complaints about the station from Yelp. Tell it like it is…. Thanks for letting me vent.

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